Food Choices Have a Large Impact on The Environment and More

You don’t have to be a environmental scientist to know that we are having a huge influence on the state of our planet and people are only starting to take action now. Even as recently as the 90’s, not many people really considered where their nutrition tableware or other products were sourced from. It was a case of what do I want and where do I get it. Nowadays however, we cannot afford to live in the same manner, especially if we want to secure a future for the next generation and beyond. Here are some ideas to help save the planet and local economies when having a simple meal.

Local Suppliers. We take it for granted these days that we can pop down the local shop and buy some fruits from exotic shores and wines from the other side of the world for example. However, a huge amount of these products are flown thousands of miles from other countries and this causes problems. Not only does the transport release vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, due to burning fuel and having to use a food and wine fridge to keep the produce chilled all the way, but also local food suppliers struggle to compete with low foreign costs. If you want to see the important businesses in your local area survive for years to come then make sure you use them whenever you can.

Choose Less Packaging. You only have to take a walk down one of the isles to see how much food packaging is wasted making products look pretty. A single cake might be singly wrapped, inside a little box with a plastic place-holder, which is cloaked in cellophane and transported within a cardboard box, with the other cake boxes. More often than not this packaging is unnecessary, so try and avoid those products that go over the top with it.

Ethically Sourced Accessories. It is not only what food you buy than can have an effect on the planet. Everything from the cutlery you use to the little wine gifts you buy others can have an impact and you should think carefully before making a choice. Ask yourself where this ware has come from, is it something that could be made from a more sustainable textile, and is this a disposable product when I could be purchasing a reclaimable one? A good example of this is chopsticks as the disposable kind accounts for acres of lost rain forest every day.

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Farming Methods In UK Should Set Example

The national scientific debate committee known as The Royal Society has put forward a recommendation to UK government, stating that they should be investing more time and money into sustainable farming techniques and setting an example to other countries. Further to this they state that the UK needs to consider how to support farmers and rural populations through their farming methods, when most advances in agriculture seem to be promoting mechanical and automated farming systems that are putting people out of work. From new roaming seeding machines to factory glassware production for product bottling, they are not taking the local communities into consideration.

One of the government’s top agricultural scientists, Professor John Beddington, has responded to the Royal Society’s claims and even elaborated on them. He has stated that “a number of solutions” are required to not only solve some of the problems that UK farming currently has, but also to be able to share knowledge and resources with those countries than follow the UK’s lead when it comes to agriculture.He stated that people are eating larger amounts of dairy and meat products currently, and this is increasing the demand for agricultural commodities needed to feed livestock. In fact, Beddington suggests that the UK will see a 50% increase in food demand by the year 2030.

In addition to the £50m that is already spent on scientific research for food production each year in the UK, the Royal Society recommend that another £2bn be injected to firstly overcome domestic issues, but more importantly start the process of solving the issues faced in third world and developing countries. It is these countries that have the most pressure on them to produce crops at unreasonably low cost and many have turned to the less stable farming methods in order to achieve this, which can mean they have very hard habits to break

For more information on food and drink issues and related products such as a wine rack, wine glasses and wine cooler fridges visit Wineware, the store that supports ethically sourced products.

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